Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

“I’ll get this.”

Years of working with Leroy Jethro Gibbs prevented Tony from jumping at the sudden appearance of Steve McGarrett beside him at the counter.

Instead, Tony lifted one eyebrow as McGarrett handed over cash for Tony’s morning coffee and ordered an iced tea for himself. 

“Commander,” Tony greeted him evenly.  He and McGarrett weren’t friendly enough for any other greeting.

“Agent DiNozzo,” McGarrett replied cautiously.

Some of their frosty relationship was the fault of Tony’s predecessor; Gordon Portlee had been a horrible agent and he’d handed off John McGarrett’s investigation to HPD without any consideration at all for the man’s serving son.  Steve had rightly held NCIS in contempt for the decision.

But Tony knew the rest of it was down to him and Steve themselves. 

Tony had bluntly told McGarrett not to rely on his full immunity and means within minutes of meeting the man, and McGarrett had responded to Tony asserting NCIS authority over the Navy cases ever since on the island with all the grace of a pouty toddler.

They had managed to work together to bring down Wo Fat, the Mob boss and former intelligence operative, who’d ordered John McGarrett’s death, but they hadn’t crossed paths in the month since.

Tony did have a good relationship with McGarrett’s partner, Danny Williams, and so he knew McGarrett had been out of the country reuniting with his mother, a CIA agent who’d faked her death and left her family behind for the safety of witness protection.

Carlina, the matronly barista, waggled her eyebrows expressively at Tony as she handed him his coffee.  Tony rolled his eyes back at her.  She’d been teasing him for weeks about dating; clearly she found McGarrett to be pretty enough for Tony and Tony could concede that much – McGarrett was very pretty.

“Thanks for the coffee,” Tony said, turning back to McGarrett who was watching their inter-play with wide eyes.

“Could I talk to you for a moment?” McGarrett took his iced tea with a nod of gratitude and gestured toward a table.

Tony acquiesced with a tilt of his head.  They slid into the uncomfortable wooden chairs.  Tony sipped his coffee and waited for McGarrett to speak.

“I wanted to apologise,” McGarrett said crisply.  “I took my anger at NCIS out on you and my behaviour was less than professional.  I’m sorry for the difficulty that’s caused between our teams and working practices, and for any personal disrespect you may have felt by my actions.”

Tony blinked at the unequivocal and blunt statement.  He found himself impressed and knew he was finally seeing the professional officer that he’d read about in McGarrett’s file.  McGarrett had taken responsibility for his actions and his words rang with sincerity. 

“I accept your apology,” Tony said simply.  He didn’t offer one in return; Five-0 had deserved the lecture he’d given them on immunity.

“Thank you,” McGarrett’s shoulders dropped down an inch and the tension eased from his face.  “I’d really like it if we could start over?”

“We could do that,” Tony agreed and was rewarded by McGarrett aiming a pleased smile at him that Tony had only seen him offer before to his Five-0 team-mates and Danny’s daughter. 

McGarrett stuck his hand out.  “Steve McGarrett.”

Tony dutifully shook hands.  “Tony DiNozzo.”

“Call me Steve,” McGarrett – Steve invited.

“Tony,” Tony reciprocated, half-amused at their stiff interaction, and half-pleased that they were moving forward.

There was a moment of silence as they both searched for where to go next in their conversation.

“Danny mentioned you went to Japan to meet your Mom?” offered Tony.

Relief swept over Steve before it was replaced with a strange mix of guilt and consternation.

“Yeah,” Steve said, “she came back with us.”

“It must be a weird adjustment,” Tony said.  He couldn’t imagine how he’d feel finding out that his dead mother was still alive and had been hiding from him.

“Weird,” Steve agreed.  “How are you enjoying the islands?” There was only a hint of desperation in the question but his unease radiated in the tapping his fingers against his plastic cup.

“They’re great,” Tony offered.  “I’ve always wanted to move here.”

Steve gave a huff of amusement.  “I don’t suppose you can persuade Danny that being here isn’t the end of the world?”

Tony let a small smile drift over his lips.  Danny’s hate for Hawaii was rooted in his pain at leaving New Jersey not at his own behest, but because his ex-wife had taken their daughter to another State.

“I agree with him about pizza,” Tony replied teasingly.

Steve leaned back and made a mock shocked look.  “Don’t tell me you hate pineapple too?”

“I love pineapple,” Tony bantered back, “but not on pizza.”  He felt the buzz of his phone in his pocket and pulled it out to look even though he knew it was his reminder for his first meeting of the day.  He slid it back into his pocket.  “Sorry, got to go.”

Steve gave an understanding nod and stood up at the same time as Tony. 

“Case?” asked Steve.

“Meeting,” Tony replied.

Steve grimaced.  “Tough luck.”

Tony smiled as they reached his car.  “Well, this is me so…”

“Steaks?” asked Steve suddenly.

Tony blinked at him.

“Coffee doesn’t seem like enough of an apology,” Steve admitted, a sheepish expression creeping over his face. 

“I can always eat steak,” Tony agreed as he opened his car door.

Steve’s eyes brightened.  “Twenty-hundred, my house?  We can eat on the beach.”

“Unless one of us picks up a case,” Tony agreed.    

Steve stood back to let Tony get into his car and Tony was sharply aware that the leader of Five-0 stayed on the sidewalk watching him as he drove away.

Tony turned over Steve’s apology as he focused on his driving.  He guessed with Wo Fat dead and his father’s murderer behind bars, Steve was making a new start.

He was a little surprised that Steve had decided to stay in Five-0, but then if Steve had returned to the Navy, it might have given the interim Governor the opportunity to disband the team completely.  And that would be a shame, Tony mused.  For all Five-0 had been set-up on a false premise, the team did good work.  Moreover, Chin, Danny and Kono were excellent investigators.

His cell rang and Tony tapped the Bluetooth earpiece and mic to respond.  “DiNozzo.”

“Sir, we have a murder of a Marine.  He was dumped in a park in downtown Oahu,” his very competent Senior Field Agent, Leila Kekoa, informed him briskly.  “I’ve informed Admiral Price’s staff that your meeting with him will need to be rescheduled.”

“Thanks, Leila.  On my way,” Tony tapped his indicator and made the turn to take him away from Pearl and towards the murder scene. 

He shoved thoughts of Steve McGarrett out of his head; he had a job to focus on.    

o-O-o

Danny stepped out of the Camaro with his phone at his ear, Rachel’s voicemail playing in his ear.  He nodded an absent hello to Steve, before his eyes caught on the logo of the plastic container of iced tea his partner was carrying.  He thumbed the phone off and fell into step beside Steve.

“Anything you want to tell me?” enquired Danny, not even bothering to keep the suspicion out of his voice.

“No,” Steve replied, pushing open the door and leading them into the air-conditioned haven of their headquarters.

“Uh-huh,” Danny pointed at the cup, “you went to Carlina’s.”

Steve’s expressive face froze for a moment in the same guilty ‘caught’ look that Grace had when Danny found her sneaking sweets.  Of course, Steve was an adult and a former intelligence officer and a SEAL which meant a blink later and his face was the picture of innocence.  If anything it was even more damning that the blatant guilt.

“It was on my way,” Steve said easily.

“Uh-huh,” Danny repeated, his hand cutting through the air, “if by it was on your way you mean that you went twenty minutes in the wrong direction.”

Steve looked torn between delight that Danny knew enough about Hawaii to know that, and displeasure that he’d been caught in the lie.

“Look, Danny…”

“Carlina is Tony’s favourite coffee place,” Danny continued.  “You’d better not have gone there to give him a hard time or…”

“I went to apologise,” Steve butted in, bringing them to a stop just in front of the central computer table, “alright, Danno?  I went to apologise.”

Danny peered at him.  “You?” he pointed at his partner, “you went to apologise to Tony?”

Steve’s face creased into something resembling ‘hurt puppy.’ “I am capable of apologising.”

“Oh, I know,” Danny conceded, since Steve had made many apologies to Danny himself.  Usually after being berated long and loud for a period of time beforehand, but Steve wasn’t stingy on apologies.

“And Tony accepted my apology,” Steve said pointedly.

Which OK, Danny was also willing to concede that most of the time his response to Steve’s apology was to utter that his acceptance was pending.  It was a thing they did.    

“Tony is a prince among men,” Danny said. 

The NCIS agent was fundamentally one of the good guys and he was fast turning into one of Danny’s best friends on the godforsaken island he had found himself living on.  Of course, Steve was also one of Danny’s very best friends, even if he frustrated the hell out of him the majority of the time.  Which brought him back to the point.

“Why did you decide to apologise to Tony?” Danny asked bluntly.

Steve blinked at him.  “You don’t think I owed him an apology?”

Danny gestured at him.  “Of course I think you owed him an apology!” He thrust his hand out.  “You’ve been a complete asshole to him!”

Steve’s pout could have launched the Titantic.  “I haven’t been that bad,” he muttered.

“You’ve almost got him shot ignoring his orders on the cases we worked together, Steve,” Danny said exasperated.

“Almost shot is not shot!” Steve proclaimed, his arms flung out as though to suggest he was harmless, really.

Danny wasn’t falling for that.  “So,” he said ignoring Steve’s protestation, “why did you suddenly decide not to be an asshole to him and apologise?”

Steve stilled; his entire body language screaming that he was an inch away from fleeing the conversation.  “I can’t just decide to apologise?”

“Me?  I can wake up one day and decide that I have been a dick and need to apologise,” Danny was faintly aware of their team-mates arriving, lining up on the other side of the computer table.  “You? Not so much, no.  You need to spend time debating it in your head and planning it out and creating the perfect ambush so, once again: no.”

“Well, I did!” protested Steve.

“I’m going to regret asking this,” Chin interjected, “but exactly who did Steve apologise to?”

“Tony,” Danny answered before Steve could say anything.  He pushed his hands into his pockets. 

“You apologised to Tony?” Kono checked, staring at Steve with open curiosity.  “Yeah,” she continued before he could reply, “there was nothing spontaneous about that.”

Steve flushed red across his well-tanned face to the amusement of the rest of the team.

“Why now?” asked Chin.

Steve shuffled, flustered.  “Look, this isn’t a big deal.  I just realised when I got back from Japan that my behaviour was unprofessional and…we have to work with NCIS so…so I apologised.  That’s all!  That’s all there is to it!”

He was desperately trying for a ‘nothing to see here, move along’ vibe and failing so utterly, Danny was tempted to laugh and remind his partner he wasn’t a Jedi. 

“Uh-huh,” all three of them chimed.

Steve sighed.  “Is there any chance you’d all just let this go?”

Chin’s phone buzzed and he turned away to answer it.

Kono looked at Danny with a joyful mischievous expression.  “I’m thinking no?”    

“No,” agreed Danny cheerfully.

Steve groaned.

“Well, we’re putting it on hold,” Chin said, “we’ve got a case.”

And with that, the subject of why Steve had apologised to Tony was put on hold.  On hold, Danny thought as he leaned against the table as Chin brought up the details and eyed the tea Steve still held, but not forgotten.

o-O-o

“I’ll get this.”

Tony broke off from talking to Leila and turned to look at Steve.  “You need to apologise again?”  He accepted the cup from a grinning Carlina with a brief thank you.  “It’s only been a week.”

“I can’t buy you a coffee just because?” asked Steve after ordering himself an iced tea.

Tony just looked at him. Beside him, his Hawaiian second-in-command grinned openly, her dark eyes twinkling.

A streak of red highlighted Steve’s sharp cheekbones. 

“OK,” Steve said, “I wanted to apologise for cancelling steaks on you last week.”

Leila’s eyebrows rose a touch and Tony wondered how much teasing he was going to endure about steaks.

Clearly, Tony mused, Steve wasn’t willing to explain why he had suddenly turned into Tony’s own personal coffee fairy. 

“Well, thank you,” Tony said, “but you didn’t have to apologise for that.  I get it.  You caught a case.”  He smiled as they stepped away from the counter.  “I caught one myself so if you hadn’t cancelled, I would have done.”

“How about a rain-check tonight?” asked Steve.

“Sure,” Tony agreed easily.  Maybe he could use the opportunity to understand what was going on with Steve.

Steve grinned, seemingly genuinely pleased at Tony’s acceptance.  “Same time?”

“Twenty-hundred.  See you then,” Tony said. 

Tony manoeuvred Leila into a table where they could watch Steve drive away.

“Well, that was weird,” Leila commented, tucking a dark lock of her bob of hair behind an ear.

“I know, right?” Tony shook his head.  “Maybe he is just trying for a fresh start.”

Leila huffed out a laugh.  “McGarrett never does anything without a reason.”

“I don’t want to make a big deal out of it,” Tony noted.

“I don’t think you are,” Leila said, “it is weird.”  She bit her lip.  “Maybe you ought to talk with Danny?  He might know.”

“Good idea,” Tony said. “OK, let’s get back to team evaluations.  Where are we with Hoster’s hand to hand?”

The meeting he had with Leila kept him occupied for a good hour but when it ended Tony couldn’t help but think of his second coffee encounter with Steve again.

Tony sat in his car and tapped his phone.  “Danny.”

The phone obligingly rang Danny’s contact number. 

“Tony,” Danny greeted him cheerfully, “how are you?”

“Good,” Tony said, “so what’s going on with McGarrett?”

There was a brief second of silence.

“He ambushed you again at Carlina’s?” asked Danny with a hint of incredulity.

“I’m not complaining,” Tony hastened out, “just…”

“Oh, no, complain, I would,” Danny said, laughter bubbling under every word.  “I complain about him all the time.”

“Is he OK?” asked Tony.

“Why wouldn’t he be?”

“He keeps buying me coffee.”

Danny fell silent again.  “You raise a good point.”

“So, you don’t think I’m over-reacting to him buying me two cups of coffee?” asked Tony carefully.

“You know Steve doesn’t buy coffee for other people,” Danny said.  “I’ve complained to you enough times about the fact that every time we go out, he’s missing his wallet.”

Tony laughed at the aggrieved tone.

“Look, he might have caught a clue about being a dick to you and apologising for unprofessionalism,” Danny continued, “that I believe…but the timing and method of apology?  He’s up to something.”

“Well, I don’t know if that makes me feel better or worse,” Tony commented dryly.  He hesitated and plunged on.  “It’s not just coffee.  He invited me round for steaks on the beach.  He did last week, we had to cancel, but he’s set it back up for tonight.”

Danny spluttered and Tony hoped he wasn’t choking on something.

“Danny?”

“Sorry,” Danny managed to croak out, “wrong pipe.”

“So…”

“So, if you were of the female persuasion, I’d think Steve was trying to seduce you,” Danny said bluntly.  “Steaks on the beach is kind of his go-to move according to Catherine.”

Catherine.

Lieutenant Catherine Rollins, Tony’s mind supplied helpfully.  She’d worked with Steve in intelligence and the gossip was that she’d spent her most recent leave with him.

Tony wondered whether Steve was bi, because maybe it was attraction or lust that had prompted Steve’s invitation – Tony’s gut said no, but it was possible – but even with DADT gone, Tony wasn’t interested in asking.

“Well, I guess I should go for steaks later and find out what this is about,” Tony concluded, amused.

“Look,” Danny said, “whatever is going on his crazy SEAL head, I’ve known him long enough to know Steve’s heart is probably in the right place.”

The serious note in Danny’s voice sobered Tony’s own amusement a touch.

“Understood, Danny,” Tony replied softly.

Danny harrumphed.  “For what it’s worth, you could do worse if it is a seduction attempt.”

Tony started laughing.  “Danny…”

“What?  He never misses an opportunity to take his shirt off!  A guy can’t help but look!” Danny said.  “And he’s a good guy, you know, when he’s not running around with guns and grenades acting like a crazy person.”

“Maybe he should be trying to seduce you,” joked Tony. 

And, the more he thought about it, the more he found he wouldn’t be surprised if Steve was actually sweet on Danny.  Their bickering bromance was the talk of HPD.  Which only made Steve inviting Tony for steaks even more suspect.

“Yeah, yeah,” Danny laughed with the obliviousness of someone who thought he was still in love with his ex-wife and who had no idea his partner might have a crush on him.  “Just…look, the guy’s gone through a lot with his Dad and now with his Mom coming back…”

Wow, Tony thought, taking in the sourness of Danny’s tone; Danny really didn’t like Steve’s Mom.  He frowned.  Doris McGarrett was a CIA agent and she’d just returned to the island. 

And Steve had suddenly decided to apologise to Tony.

“Whatever this is about, I’ll go easy on him, Danny,” Tony promised.

“Thanks, Tony,” Danny said. 

Tony signed off.  He made a quick phone call to Leila and drove out to a remote viewing point over Honolulu.  He got out and sat on the wall.  For a long moment he took in the view.  Finally, he took a deep breath, flipped through his contacts and frowned at the entry he’d landed on.  He sighed and hit the call button.

“Do you know what fucking time it is here?!”

“Lovely to hear your voice too, Kort,” Tony replied.  “Doris McGarrett.”

“Why should I tell you anything?” Kort asked shortly.

“Are we still pretending you didn’t set a bomb in my car, Kort?” Tony said. 

“That was business!” hissed Kort.  “You were endangering my op!”

“And this is business,” stated Tony tersely.  “So, you can tell me or I can get my Director to start making waves.”

“Fuck,” muttered Kort.

Tony smiled at that.  He let himself enjoy the fact that the mere mention of Hetty Lange was enough to make Kort cave.

There was a shuffling sound and a door banged as though Kort had moved location.

“She’s trouble, DiNozzo,” Kort said.  “Word was that she raised Wo Fat herself against orders, or in line with orders – that changes on who you speak to, but either way she saw herself as his mother.”

Tony started seeing the puzzle pieces of the picture start to come together.  Steve’s sudden interest in Tony was rooted in his mother’s interest of him, and there was only one reason why Doris McGarrett would be interested in him; Tony had killed Wo Fat.

“That’s all I know,” Kort concluded.

“She disavowed?” asked Tony clinically.

Kort hesitated a fraction of a second before he answered.  “Not if she delivers McGarrett.”

“They want Steve McGarrett?” checked Tony.

“They still want you,” pointed out Kort with enough disgust that Tony knew he was sincere.

“Thank you for the information,” Tony said politely.

“You owe me now,” Kort growled.

“I owe you a car bomb,” Tony shot back and shut down the call with a stab of his finger. 

He took one deep breath after another and knew he wouldn’t be able to keep his promise to Danny.

o-O-o

Danny stared at Steve driving, contemplating that morning’s conversation with Tony.

“What?” asked Steve finally, breaking the tense silence.  He glanced across the small space of the Camaro and gave Danny his patented ‘I know you have something to say so just say it.’

“Tony,” said Danny succinctly.

Steve yanked his gaze back to the road (where it always should have been).  “What about Tony?”

“Steaks?” asked Danny archly.

Steve lifted a hand from the steering wheel.  “I’m trying to make it up to the guy.”

“By seducing him?”

“By…” Steve darted a frantic look at Danny before he returned his eyes front again.  “I’m not seducing him!”

“Steaks on the beach, Steve,” Danny pointed out crisply, gesticulating at him.  “For you that’s practically an engraved invitation to get naked.”

“I invite you to have steaks with me all the time!” Steve threw back.

And he did.  Maybe Danny would need to think about that some more.

“Not the point,” Danny thrust a hand at him. “You, my friend, have a problem you’re trying to solve with seduction. I’m just not sure what your problem with Tony is.”

“I don’t have a problem with Tony,” Steve replied defensively.

“You do have a problem with Tony,” countered Danny.

“I don’t have a problem with Tony,” Steve repeated, almost biting the words through his teeth.

“You do have a problem…”

“Danno!” Steve cut in sharply.  He glared at him for a second before the road demanded his attention.  “I really do not have a problem with Tony and I would be grateful if you could just this once take my word for it and just trust me.”

Danny wasn’t oblivious to the note of hurt in Steve’s voice.  He knew he gave Steve a hard time, but he had come to trust him and he wasn’t about to endanger the partnership they’d built by leaving Steve thinking he didn’t.

“OK,” Danny subsided against his car door, fingering the crash handle.  He should probably look at getting them tested thoroughly given the amount of times he was left clinging onto them.

“OK?” asked Steve sounding completely bewildered.

“OK,” Danny repeated softly. 

Steve took his eyes off the road again to stare at Danny with a look of incomprehension so vivid that Danny sighed.

“You told me to take your word for it, so I’ll take your word for it,” Danny offered.

Steve continued to look at him.

Danny’s eyes caught on the road ahead and a car that was going far too slowly.

“The road, Steven!” Danny barked.  “Look at the…”

Steve turned his attention back to the road just in time to swerve around the car safely.  He turned off the road suddenly and jerked the car to a stop on the rough track which was masquerading as a road.

Danny felt his galloping heart start to ease back down and he took several deep breaths. 

“Right,” Danny said, “I don’t know what’s going on with you, but I am driving!  No arguments!”

He pushed his door open and got out.  He marched around prepared to drag Steve out of the driver’s seat only to find Steve clambering out to sit dejectedly on the bonnet, staring out at the track disappearing into the vegetation ahead of them.

Danny repressed the urge to stomp his feet and throw a tantrum.  He sat his ass down beside his partner.  He absently smoothed his tie down and fixed his hair, before he crossed his arms huffily over his chest, pulling his shirt taut.

“My Mom keeps asking questions about him.”

And there it was.

Danny looked at Steve’s profile; his jaw was set, his gaze the thousand-mile stare that the SEALs had taught him; his body was hunched, arms crossed tightly over his chest, legs crossed at the ankle.

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” Steve said.  “It’s weird though, right?  It’s…weird.”

Danny grimaced, looking down at the ground briefly before meeting Steve’s gaze.  “Weird’s a good word.”

“I just…” Steve sighed heavily and shifted his weight.  “I just figured talking to him might give me some clue as to why she’s so interested in him.  I mean, she was asking all these questions about him and I couldn’t answer any of them.”

“That’s why you apologised,” Danny surmised with a sigh of his own. 

Steve rubbed the back of his neck.  “I know I…I know I owed him an apology, Danno, and I was going to do that without this, only…”

“Only your Mom’s interest prompted you to be a stupid moron about it,” Danny finished.

Steve glared at him which comforted Danny because it meant that under all the angst Doris was causing, Steve’s spirit was still there.

“How did Doris even know about Tony anyway?” asked Danny.

Steve grimaced.  “Mary and I told her how we found out about her.”

Danny frowned.  “And you don’t think she’s just interested in knowing something about the person who realised her fake death wasn’t so fake?”

“She only seemed to get really interested after she found out he killed Wo Fat,” admitted Steve quietly.

“You kicked him off the roof,” Danny pointed out.  “Sure, Tony’s bullet went straight through his heart but…Max ruled he died due to his skull caving on impact not from the bullet wound.”

“I don’t think that matters to her,” Steve said.  He fidgeted for a long moment before sighing.  “She decided to come home when Mary talked about how Tony was stationed here.”

Danny rubbed a hand over his face.  If it had sounded suspicious before, that sent it over the edge to just bad.  “Steve…”

“I know, Danno, I know,” Steve pushed away from the bonnet and paced away a few steps.  He stood hands on his hips looking into the distance.

Danny went to stand beside him. 

“My Mom’s interested in DiNozzo because he killed Wo Fat,” Steve stated out loud.  “That’s why she’s asking all the questions about him, why she came to Hawaii.”

“I think so,” Danny said.

“But, why?” asked Steve plaintively. 

“You and I both know there are only a couple of reasons for someone to be so interested in who ends someone else,” Danny pointed out gently.  “Either they want to shake the guy’s hand or…”

“Or they want revenge,” Steve completed.  He cast his eyes up to the sky before he turned around and started heading back to the car at pace.  “I think it’s time we talked with my Mom.”

They got back in. 

Danny strapped on the seatbelt as Steve gunned the engine.  He turned the car around and a second later they were back on the main road.  Danny wasn’t surprised as they navigated the familiar path to Steve’s house.  They slowed as they parked up.

A car sat parked next to them.

“That’s Tony’s car,” Danny said quietly.

Voices drifted over; someone was on the lanai at the back of the house.  Steve silently gestured for Danny to follow him.  They made their way through the house to the back door.  It framed Tony and Doris stood a few yards away from the house.

Doris was dressed in jeans and a white shirt.  Her arms were folded in a way that Danny was reminded of Steve.  Her chin was up and she was glaring at the NCIS agent.

Tony’s chinos, shirt and blazer were his usual uniform; he had his badge visibly displayed, but his gun was holstered. 

Danny was tempted to draw his own gun, but a brief glance at Steve had him standing down.

“…you don’t feel any remorse, do you?!” Doris almost shouted the words at Tony.

“No,” Tony agreed, “he would have shot your son.  I shot him first.”

“He wouldn’t have hurt Steve!” Doris argued.  “Not seriously!  He thought of Steve as his brother!”

“If you really believe that you’re delusional!” Tony snapped.  “You might have raised Wo Fat after the clusterfuck you caused trying to assassinate his father, but you’re wrong to think he thought of your family as anything other than another reason to hate you.”

“You didn’t know him!”

“And neither did you!”

“You don’t know anything!”

“I know that Steve is so interested in finding out why you’re so interested in me that he’s buying me coffee and inviting me for steaks on the beach,” Tony informed her.  “If you don’t want your son to find out that his mother raised the mob boss who ordered his father killed and who tried his very best to kill him too, I suggest you lose interest.”

Doris stared at him and gave a humourless laugh; her hand went briefly to the small of her back and Danny caught the glint of something metallic.  “I can see why the CIA wanted you.  You’re a smart man, Anthony DiNozzo, but it wasn’t very smart coming here alone…”  she took a step toward him, a knife in her hand…

“Mom!” Steve charged out of the back door.

Danny drew his gun and followed him.  He had the weapon aimed at Doris in a heartbeat only to realise that Tony hadn’t come alone; his partner, Kekoa moved out of the shadows by the side of the house and used the distraction of Steve’s arrival to disarm Doris.  Danny watched as Tony threw the knife away and grimaced at the sight of Doris staring white-faced back at her son.

Tony caught Steve’s attention with a brief tilt of his head.  “I trust you’ll handle this?”

Steve gave a sharp nod.

Tony turned away, back towards the house, ushering Kekoa ahead of him.  Danny lowered his weapon as they approached.  Tony waved Kekoa on and paused beside him.

“Sorry, Danny,” Tony said softly.

“Yeah,” Danny said simply, anger bubbling under his skin.

“Come and yell at me when you’re ready,” Tony patted his shoulder and headed out.

Steve cleared his throat.  “Danny, my Mom’s going to be leaving.  Could you give us a moment?”

“You sure about that?” asked Danny cautiously, unwilling to leave Steve alone.

“I’m sure she’s leaving,” Steve shot back.  He glanced over at Danny and met his eyes.  “It’s OK, Danno,” he said, attempting a crooked smile, “I’ll be OK.”

No, he wouldn’t.  Danny knew that.  Steve was not going to be OK.  But Danny could make it easier for him to deal with the fallout of finding out the truth about his Mom.

“I’ll be just inside,” Danny promised.

Steve nodded, a grateful expression flitting across his face before he turned back to his Mom.  Danny holstered his gun and went inside to wait for his partner.  He would be there for him no matter what happened.

o-O-o

“I’ll get this.”

Tony lifted an eyebrow as for the third time in as many weeks Steve McGarrett paid for his coffee.  Truthfully, he’d been waiting for McGarrett to show up and confront him since he’d received confirmation that he’d returned from escorting his mother to Langley the day before.  He hadn’t expected him to buy him another coffee.

Carlina did another eyebrow waggle of her own but Tony shook his head almost imperceptibly.  He took his coffee with a murmur of thanks.

“We need to talk,” Steve said bluntly.

Tony took a step toward the table they’d used the first time, but Steve gestured at the door.

“Follow me?” Steve requested.

Tony nodded.  He got in his car and waited for Steve’s truck to pull out, carefully following him down the road to a small cove.

The rocky shoreline was beautiful; craggy and undisturbed.  The waves lapped peacefully against the stones.  Steve walked out to stand almost at the water’s edge and Tony joined him, coffee cup in hand.

“You wanted to talk?” prompted Tony when Steve remained silent.

Steve shifted to face him; he stood legs planted apart, arms folded over his chest, his face a mask.  “That scene with my Mom; Danny said you played me.”

“Yes,” Tony said.

Steve’s shock rippled over his features.  He clearly hadn’t thought Tony would just admit it. “Why?”

Tony tilted his head and examined Steve’s guarded eyes.  “You were a target for CIA recruitment.  Your Mom was looking for a way to keep you out of the firm.”

“So, you made me think my Mom was going to kill you, DiNozzo?” asked Steve roughly.

“In my defence it was her idea,” Tony sighed as he watched Steve absorb the fact that his mother had been the one to stage things. 

Tony made for a nearby rock, sat down and gestured for Steve to do the same.  The other man shook his head and remained standing. The commander of Five-0 looked weary.  In the sunlight, Tony could see the bruises under his eyes, the tension in his frame that spoke of sleeping too little and carrying too much stress.

“Your Mom knew that the CIA would use her relationship with you to manipulate things so eventually you wouldn’t have a choice about joining them,” Tony said.  “You’d end up on black ops for them one way or another.  Maybe they’d start with simply having your Mom asking for your help on something.  Maybe she’d be on mission and you would be the only person who could find her or help her.”

Steve grimaced and looked away.

“She also knew she’d play her part in manipulating you; that she wouldn’t have a choice, or if she did have a choice, she’s self-aware enough to know she wouldn’t always choose you over her mission.”

Steve sighed.  He took a step toward the rock and almost stumbled as he sat down.  “I wanted her to come home.”

“I get that,” Tony said softly.  He’d give anything for his own Mom to be alive and with him.

“Did she focus on you because she knew you would help her make me back off?” asked Steve gruffly.

Tony considered the question and frowned.  “Nope, she really didn’t know that until I faced her with it.”

Steve’s eyes gleamed with curiosity.

“Your Mom figured you’re a white hat, Steve.  She knew if you had to save someone from her because of her history with Wo Fat…you’d send her away to make sure she wasn’t a threat.  I was the obvious target.”

“She used you,” Steve said.

“And you,” Tony allowed. 

Steve huffed.  “So, the whole thing at my house was staged.”

Tony didn’t bother repeating himself.  Danny had worked it out and he’d obviously told Steve as soon as his partner had landed back on the island.  Danny had turned up at Tony’s, yelled at him loudly and left having made the point that maybe it was Tony’s turn to apologise to Steve.  Tony was grateful that Danny hadn’t used his fist to make that point.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for my part in it,” Tony said, hoping his sincerity would convince the other man.

“Why did you go along with it?” asked Steve, weariness creeping into his voice.

“She made a case that it was better not to involve anyone else in her games,” Tony said simply, not wanting to lie to him further. 

Personally, he disliked Doris McGarrett in a visceral way.  He was glad she’d had enough maternal instinct left to try and protect Steve and Mary from her own machinations because there was no doubt in his mind that they were better off without her in their lives.

“Danny,” Steve wondered out loud.

“Maybe,” Tony said, although he was certain that Danny would have been her next target.  Steve was too open in his affection for his partner.

Steve rubbed a hand over the back of his neck.  “She’s my Mom.”

“Not all parents are cut out to be parents,” countered Tony. 

His lips twisted wryly.  He remembered saying the same thing to Danny just after taking down Wo Fat when they’d talked about Steve’s reunion with his Mom.  He hadn’t told Danny the rest of it but maybe he owed Steve something for letting Doris have her way. 

“My Dad’s a conman,” Tony said.  “Oh, he says he’s just a businessman and sometimes ventures fail, but really he is a conman.  He disowned me; we haven’t spoken for years.”

Steve was quiet for a long moment.  “I remember the Christmas before she died.  It was…picture perfect, you know?  We were happy.  I just…was it all a lie?”

“Maybe not,” Tony said.  “Maybe you hang onto the happy memories and just let the rest of it go.”

Steve gave a terse nod.

Tony sipped his coffee and surreptitiously checked the time.  He had a few minutes before he needed to leave.

“I should apologise to you,” Steve said suddenly, breaking into Tony’s meandering thoughts.

Tony looked at him, bemused.

“I should have apologised originally because it was the right thing to do, not because I had ulterior motives,” Steve explained.  “And I’m sorry she dragged you into this.”

“You don’t have to apologise for your Mom’s actions and, as for the rest, let’s just call it water under the bridge,” Tony offered.

Steve nodded.  “Maybe we can start over for real this time?”

Tony got to his feet.  “Let me buy you coffee tomorrow and it’s a deal.”

“Deal,” Steve got his feet and held out his hand.

Tony shook it solemnly.  He walked back up to the shoreline not surprised to see Danny waiting there, the Camaro parked up beside the truck and Tony’s car.

Danny greeted him with a nod, hands in the pockets of his tailored pants.  “How is he?”

“Hurting,” Tony said honestly. 

Danny grimaced.  He cast a look in Tony’s direction, a mix of apology and belligerence.  “I got to thinking that maybe his hurting isn’t all your fault.”

Tony hummed.

Danny shifted his weight.  “Maybe you only deserved some of what I yelled at you.”

“I definitely deserved some of it,” allowed Tony.  Doris McGarrett may have manipulated him, but he had let her.  “He’s lucky to have you.”

“I tell him that every day,” bantered Danny weakly.

Tony smiled at him.  “Go on, Danny,” he gestured back towards where Steve still sat hunched over and looking out at the waves.  “He needs you.”

Danny nodded.  “You going to be OK?”

“I’m buying the coffee tomorrow,” Tony quipped. 

It was enough to bring a reluctant smile to Danny’s face.

“I’ll be fine,” Tony said and shooed Danny away.  He watched as Danny made his way to Steve, as he sat beside him shoulder to shoulder.  He watched as they leaned into each other, a partnership.

Tony sipped his coffee.  He and Leila worked well together, but they hadn’t clicked the way Steve and Danny had; the way, Tony mused sadly, that he’d just automatically clicked with Gibbs.

His own smile was bittersweet as he breathed in the scent of the coffee he got every day; the same coffee Gibbs had drank every day Tony had worked with him.  It was a reminder of a past he’d left behind when he’d taken up Lange’s offer to lead the team in Hawaii; a reminder of working with Gibbs.  Maybe he’d been hanging on too much to the past to truly appreciate what he had.

He cast one last look back to the Five-0 partners and headed to his car.  He made a call as he drove back towards Pearl.  Maybe it was time he started to make more of an effort to forge a partnership of his own. 

“Hey, Leila?” Tony greeted her brightly.  “How’d you feel about pineapple on pizza?”

fin.